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Wilmington Star News
Waterline plays with John Hiatt's band on new CD
There was a time when the piano was an integral part of rock. From Queen to Elton John to REO Speedwagon, the keys have played their prodigious role, augmented, of course, by the wail of an effects-laden electric guitar. The two musicians who comprise the Topsail Island act Waterline understand this relationship well, as illustrated by their new release, Long Goners.
Waterline will play a CD release show for Long Goners on Friday.
When he was a teen, Waterline's guitarist, Chris Pappalardo, had an epiphany. "I heard the live version of Santana's Europa and a bell went off and I said, 'I've got to do that,' " Mr. Pappalardo said. "I had no experience with music at all, but I gave up sports and all the other things I had done before to learn more."
Six months later, he was a music major at Virginia Commonwealth University where he would eventually meet pianist Jim Ellis, a student at Richmond University, who had been playing in bands since age 14. The pair started performing with an act called Beluga Whale when they encountered another Virginia-based musician by the name of Dave Matthews.
"He started out playing the Flood Zone on Wednesday nights for 40 or 50 people," Mr. Pappalardo said. "I remember seeing them and realizing that they had this X factor, also understanding that our band at the time didn't have it. But soon Jim and I came to the conclusion that together, he and I might have that intangible."
The duo had planned a move to Nashville when Mr. Ellis saw the real world staring him in the face. "I had just met the woman who would become my wife and gotten a job at a bank," Mr. Ellis said. "So Chris moved to Nashville without me."
They stayed in touch, however, and eventually decided to give the act another try. They cruised around the mid-Atlantic area through cities like Raleigh, Charlotte, Asheville and Charleston, but none of them seemed right. "We fell in love with Wilmington and we moved here in 1996," Mr. Pappalardo said.
While Mr. Pappalardo returned to Nashville for a period, Waterline continued to play, if only one weekend a month. Eventually, they ended up where they currently reside, four blocks from one another on Topsail Island. "I think your environment has to affect who you are, and that in turn affects how you write," Mr. Ellis said. "Every day is like a vacation living at the beach, and I think that comes through in the songs, especially some of the stuff I've been doing lately."
The songs from Long Goners evoke that beachfront atmosphere, as well as pop-rock maestros like Jackson Browne, Gregg Allman and Bruce Hornsby.
The album's title refers in part to the fact that John Hiatt's backing band, The Goners, provided the backing tracks on the disc.
"We both wanted a consistent drum and bass rhythm section because the last record we did was kind of a hodgepodge of players, and we wanted this to be more cohesive," Mr. Pappalardo said. "I had toured with The Goners and we both really liked the way (bassist) Dave (Ranson) and (drummer) Kenneth (Blevins) played together, so Jim suggested I just ask them."
What they weren't counting on was The Goners' guitarist, renowned slide master Sonny Landreth, sitting in for the whole recording session. "Sonny said he might come in and play on a few songs and ended up playing on every track over the course of two days," Mr. Pappalardo said. "They've recorded so much together and spent so much time in the studio that it was shocking how quickly they picked up our stuff."
Long Goners is an elegant collection of heartfelt songs filled with snazzy hooks and harmonies that should appeal to fans of carefully crafted, bluesy pop.
As the tide ebbs and flows, it appears that Waterline just may be on the rise.
- Zach Hanner
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